Performing the Sacra: Priestly roles and their organisation in Roman Britain

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`Performing the Sacra: Priestly roles and their organisation in Roman Britain' addresses a range of cultural responses to the Roman conquest of Britain with regard to priestly roles. The approach is based on current theoretical trends focussing on dynamics of adaptation, multiculturalism, and appropriation and discarding a sharp distinction between local and Roman cults. The perspective is shifted from a centre-periphery model towards a spectrum of cultural responses. The book investigates a wide range of published and unpublished evidence to examine three main themes: a model of priesthood organisation, the embodiment of priestly authorities in a provincial environment, and how the different depositional contexts of priestly regalia contribute to our understanding of these roles. Previous accounts of this type of evidence from Britain has often linked the objects to local cults, for being somehow specific to the province. This was based on a limited search for comparisons among the evidence from other areas of the Roman world, both in terms of the individual objects and of the overall priestly organisation. Here, a methodical investigation of objects identifiable as priestly regalia and ceremonial tools was integrated into an assessment of historical, epigraphic, and iconographic sources. Mapped via the creation of a Geographic Information System and highlighting regional distributions, this work contributes to our understanding of the fluid provincial culture behind the religious organisation of the ritual landscape of Britain. Cover Title Page Copyright page Contents Page Acknowledgements Preface Chapter 1 Introduction to the study, assessment of the sources, and research questions Table 3.1. Head-dresses from Roman Britain. SD=Structured Deposit; GG= Grave Goods; SF=Stratified Find; UF=Unstratified Find. Table 3.2. Sceptre-heads from Roman Britain. Table 3.3. Sceptre-shafts from Roman Britain. Table 3.4. Sceptre-bindings from Roman Britain. Table 3.5. Sceptre-terminals from Roman Britain. Table 3.6. Ceremonial spears from Britain. Table 3.7. Divination devices from Roman Britain. Table 4.1. List of British structured deposits containing Roman period priestly regalia. Table 4.2. Felmingham Hall deposit. Cauldron and objects deposited inside it. Table 4.3. Summary of the objects from the Felmingham Hall deposit according to their type. Table 4.4. The content of the deposit from Willingham Fen. Table 4.5. West Stow. Objects deposited inside the vessel (Context 0007). Table 4.6. Objects deposited under and around the vessel (Context 0008). Table 4.7. Summary of the objects from the West Stow deposit by category. Table 4.8. Stony Stratford. Objects deposited in urn. Table 4.9. Synthesis of the deposits’ composition Table 4.10. Roman period burials interpreted as of priests/esses. Table 6.1. Occurrences of priestly titles in Britain. Table 6.2. Inscriptions recording ‘religious’ collegia in Britain. Figure 3.1 Chain-headdress from Wanborough, Surrey Figure 3.2 Chain-headdress fragments from West Stow. Average D. c. 3 cm Figure 3.3 Horse and Rider figurine from South Cambridgeshire L. c. 8 cm Figure 3.4 Mars sceptre-heads from Lincolnshire Figure 3.5 British tripod mounts Figure 3.6 Head from Bix, Oxfordshire. Figure 3.7 Marcus Aurelius from Steane, Northamptonshire. Figure 3.8 Sceptre-heads shaped as eagles. Figure 3.9 Sceptre mount from Baldock. Figure 3.10 Sceptre terminal(?) from Godmanchester. Figure 3.11 Examples of flattened-end sceptre-terminals. Figure 3.12 Pommelled sceptre-terminals. Figure 3.13 Ceremonial spear-head from West Stow. Figure 3.14 Two examples of ‘rattles’ from London. Figure 3.15 Geographical distribution of headdresses in Britain. Crowns, Diadems, and Chain-headdresses. Figure 3.16 Geographical distribution of sceptre-heads in Britain. Mars, Venus, Emperors, Birds, Human heads, Cernumnos, Other. Figure 4.1. Diagram showing the sequence of deposition of the objects inside and under the vessel according to the finder Figure 4.2. Quantity of objects found in the deposits by category. Figure 4.3. Map showing the location of the funerary contexts at Catterick and Brough-on-Humber, the Mars sceptre-heads, the Venus sceptre-head, and the octahedron in Lincolnshire. Figure 4.4. Lamps from the female burial from Southwark London. Figure 4.7. Quantification of the different types of regalia according to contexts (top) and of different contexts according to location (bottom). Figure 4.8. Distribution of priestly regalia in East and South England. Figure 5.1 Copper-alloy balsamarium from Petham, Kent. 3rd century AD. Figure 5.2. Fragment of a copper-alloy figurine from Pentridge, Dorset. Roman Period. Figure 5.3. Figurine of the ‘Worshipper’ type from Maulden, West Bedfordshire.  Figure 3.1 Chain-headdress from Wanborough, Surrey Figure 3.2 Chain-headdress fragments from West Stow. Average D. c. 3 cm Figure 3.3 Horse and Rider figurine from South Cambridgeshire L. c. 8 cm Figure 3.4 Mars sceptre-heads from Lincolnshire Figure 3.5 British tripod mounts Figure 3.6 Head from Bix, Oxfordshire. Figure 3.7 Marcus Aurelius from Steane, Northamptonshire. Figure 3.8 Sceptre-heads shaped as eagles. Figure 3.9 Sceptre mount from Baldock. Figure 3.10 Sceptre terminal(?) from Godmanchester. Figure 3.11 Examples of flattened-end sceptre-terminals. Figure 3.12 Pommelled sceptre-terminals. Figure 3.13 Ceremonial spear-head from West Stow. Figure 3.14 Two examples of ‘rattles’ from London. Figure 3.15 Geographical distribution of headdresses in Britain. Crowns, Diadems, and Chain-headdresses. Figure 3.16 Geographical distribution of sceptre-heads in Britain. Mars, Venus, Emperors, Birds, Human heads, Cernumnos, Other. Figure 4.1. Diagram showing the sequence of deposition of the objects inside and under the vessel according to the finder Figure 4.2. Quantity of objects found in the deposits by category. Figure 4.3. Map showing the location of the funerary contexts at Catterick and Brough-on-Humber, the Mars sceptre-heads, the Venus sceptre-head, and the octahedron in Lincolnshire. Figure 4.4. Lamps from the female burial from Southwark London. Figure 4.5. Top. Quantification of Single finds by type. Figure 4.6. Proportion of regalia found in Structured Deposits (SD), as Grave Goods (GG), as Stratified Finds(SF) or Unstratified Finds (UF). Figure 4.7. Quantification of the different types of regalia according to contexts (top) and of different contexts according to location (bottom). Figure 4.8. Distribution of priestly regalia in East and South England. Figure 5.1 Copper-alloy balsamarium from Petham, Kent. 3rd century AD. Figure 5.2. Fragment of a copper-alloy figurine from Pentridge, Dorset. Roman Period. Figure 5.3. Figurine of the ‘Worshipper’ type from Maulden, West Bedfordshire.